A lot of people are talking about Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh these days. Though it is a political issue, the Opposition TDP and some who invested in Amaravati, are trying to get sympathy from the people, cutting across the regions and castes.
Those who support the farmers who have been holding protest in Mandamdam over Amaravati, say repeatedly that the farmers have sacrificed their land for the state, for the benefit of the five-crore people.
This way, the supporters of Amaravati and the Amaravati politics, are campaigning and the media too is promoting it. But the fact is that no farmer in Amaravati had made any sacrifice.
Except those multi-crop fertile lands on the banks of the river, the rest of the lands in all the 29 villages are not so fertile and are single crop lands. They were priced at Rs 8 lakh on the road side to the lowest of Rs 2 lakh.
Except in Undavalli and Penumaka, which are close to Vijayawada city, and those multi-crop lands, the prices of the rest of the lands were as low as Rs 2 lakh an acre as already explained.
But, when the capital location was announced here, the land prices went from the lowest of Rs 1 crore to the highest of Rs 10 crore per acre.
There were handful of farmers who owned 25 acres and above, while the rest have less than 25 acres. About 80 per cent of the farmers were having below five acres of land.
Be it the rich 25-acre land owners or the 2-acre land owners, most of them have sold their lands, retaining highest of 2 acres to the lowest of 25 cents and made huge profits. The rest of the small portion of the land was given to the government in pooling.
In return, the government had announced and paid annual lease of Rs 50,000 per acre and had promised commercial and residential plots. The price of these plots was also promised to go up to Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore in 10 years.
Having sold major portion of the lands for a few crores of rupees, receiving annual lease amount for 10 years, which was now increased to 15 years, and promised commercial and residential plots, how can any one say that the farmers have sacrificed?
The sacrifice was made by the thousands of agriculture labourers who lived on those lands for years. The sacrifice was made by hundreds of the small and medium tenant farmers who have been living on these lands for decades.
The sacrifice was made by those who were depending as artisans and electricians helping the farmers and their households for all these years, not the farmers.
